St. Landry democrat., 1887-10-01

| above and the cooking, which ls Sely
little, as it seems that this patient and
down-trodden people have reduced eating
to minimum.
The evenings in Bulgarian household
are passed sitting around the doorstep
in summer and around the fire IN cold
weather, and talking with nelghbors or
among themselves. Any difference IS
always referred to and decided by the
oldest member of the family. For each
new married couple sort of lean-to IS
added to the house, unless it already mas
more than one room. Few have more
than two.
When a girl is to be married all the
friends of both bride and groom are in
vited, and if the family is very poor
their friends always contribute some
thing toward the wedding feast. Gener-
ally lamb is roasted and huge
wheaton cake sweetened with honey and
sprinkled with cinnamon is baked. The
bridegroom furnishes a small cask or
light wine.
The bride is dressed in the brown
woolen dress her patient mother has
made her, and two Wreaths are pro-
vided of artificial flowers with long float
ing ribbons. The priests and deacons
and choir boys come, the brides eyes
are sealed with wax, and she is led last
ing to the room, and the priest begins the
| long cerei! my which lasts nearly an
hour, changing the wreaths back and
forth three times. When the ceremony
is over the feast begins. The bride, still
blinded, is placed astride the cask of Wine
and obliged to itthere until It'll all gone.
a cup of wine and piece of cake are given
to the priest, who then goes away, leav-
ing the guests to amuse themselves. The
poor young bride has to sit there and
hear the others dance and sing and eat
and drink all day At night she is taken
down almost fainting and led to her
room, where she has some supper, and
then she is left to rest, and her eyes are
unsealed. The Bulgarians are very faith
full and loving. and look upon marriage
as a truer friendship and holy partner
ship. The woman accepts her husband
as incOntestable master, but he looks
upon her as wise counselor, and they
unite in everything almost always. The
woman always has complete control OF
domestic matters.
Babies are swathed and tied up until
nothing but stiff little bundles, but they
seem to thrive after ALL though we would
not dream of cOntining ours that way.
A Greek baptism is curious ceremony.
The baby is stripped naked, and dipped
three times over in font of cold water,
it (the baby having been previously
anointed by the priest with Oil, and
blessed in spots from head to feet Then,
gasping and strangling,i it is handed to
the godmother. The guests at christ
ening all stand around the room with
lighted tapers in their hands. The priest
also carries a huge wax candle. The
number of attendants and cholr-boys
varies with the means of the parents to
pay.
The Bulgarians are industrious and
frugal, it being very rare to find an idle
or drunken one. The women work very
hard but they are not neat in regard to
their houses, with the one exception of
keeping the pots and kettles bright and
shining.
When any one is sick a priest is called
first and the barber after; the doctor last.
The people are healthy for the most
part, for their abstemious lives help to
keep them well. The men are thin and
wiry and rather undersized and dark
complexioned. They shave their heads
with the exception of a single lock on
the crown. They wear little sheep
skin caps and homespun homemade
clothes. They have no athletic out
door sports like the Greeks and AL
banians and no what might be called dis
tinctively national music, except sort
OF wild playing on rude bagpipes. The
only comfort they have is that of good
fires, as wood is very cheap. Feast days
are those of the church only, and those
of St. George and Easter are the princi-
pal ones. Easter is the greatest and most
solemn and even the poorest gets din
ner of fowl or barbecued lamb. At
the feast of St. George all, men, women
and children, go out to the forest with
the bagpipes, and crowning themselves
with flowers, dance on the sward and play
innocent games. In dancing they form
ring and take hold of each others hand
kerchief, and they remind one of the
ancient sculptures.
The Bulgarians are ignorant and su-
perstitious beyond belief, and all their
trust is put in their religion, for they are
sincerely pious and believe faithfully all
the priests tell them, and in every house
is little statue of the Virgin and lamp
burning perpetually before it.
The men are submissive even to the
most abject cowardice, and bear without
murmur what no other nation on earth
has ever borne without trying TO help
themselves The women are patient,
gentle, loving and faithful, and their
home life, though so wretchedly poor and
barren of pleasure or comfort, is withal
so true and honest and pure that we can
not but wish that all other nations were
not more like them. If they could in
reality be freed from Turkish abuse and
greed they might become a great nation,
D,,1 l. A
of territory, for the most part fertile and
in some places rich in minerals, and a
population of only 100000 souls, enough
to give each and all abundant prosperity
instead of the bitter poverty that has
kept them down so long. The Berlin
treaty has been but shadow of relief as
yet, with nothing substantial to show.
OLIVE HARPER.